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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Sponsor

Honored by:
Mr. Fritz Oesterle

Captain Noble Ulus David "Tex" Buice flew over 60 different types of aircraft, amassing over 30,000 hours in the air in more than 50 years of flight. He learned to fly in a World War I OX5 powered Jenny, flying his first solo at Rich Field in Waco Texas in 1925. He placed third in the Rich Field air races in 1927. Tex Buice worked for Berliner Joyce Aircraft Corporation in Baltimore, MD from 1929 through 1932 as a welder of experimental and production aircraft. He then moved to Hartford, CT to work for Chance Vought Aircraft Corporation (later to become United Technologies) as a welder. From late 1932 through 1934 he worked for Eastern Air Transport (later Eastern Air Lines). Throughout the depression he was never satisfied with routine production work and held the goal of becoming an air mail pilot. On April 17, 1936 he left a position as chief pilot and instructor for Blevens Aircraft in Atlanta to become a mechanic for Delta Airlines. On September 17, 1936 he made his first trip as a co-pilot. He was assigned permanently to flying on January 1, 1937, becoming the 14th pilot hired by Delta Airlines. In 1939 he was promoted to Captain, a position he held with Delta until he reached the compulsory retirement age of 60 on February 28, 1965. He set a commercial airline record in 1956 flying a Delta Gold Crown DC-7 from Chicago to Miami in 2 hours and 58 minutes. He ended his career on the finest commercial aircraft of the time- a 130 passenger DC-8 fanjet with 17,000 lbs of thrust for each of the four engines, in comparison with the 90 hp in his first Jenny. In over 5 million miles of commercial flight (2 million on the DC-8) he never injured a crew member, passenger or scratched an airplane.